The US embassy in Dhaka has declared a visa interview waiver for all qualified and eligible non-immigrant visa applicants from Bangladesh.

The release said that this development allows consular authorities to waive interviews for eligible non-immigrant visa applicants who applied for renewing their non-immigrant visa status.

A report that was released in Dhaka from the US embassy has confirmed this.

On the other hand, this program is not for applicants, who are applying for the first time; it is only aimed at certain applicants who are renewing their visa status.

Here, qualified or eligible applicants means those who are renewing visa status, and are residents or citizens of Bangladesh and presently living in Bangladesh, and are again applying for the same category of visa as they had applied before, earlier. It is to be noted here that their earlier or previous visa must have been issued on or after 1st January 2008. Eligible applicants should not have had a ‘refusal of visa’ issued to them in any category in the past.

People applying for US interview waiver should also not have had their passports/visas lost or stolen, or revoked. Applicants should also not have breached any of the US immigration regulations or laws.

Furthermore, the potential applicant’s name, nationality, place and date of birth should not have changed from how it was in their previous visa. And depending on the type of the visa applied for, additional/other requirements may also be imposed.